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Honduras' interim president Roberto Micheletti will step down temporarily from his post for a week during the country's coming national elections, the Wall Street Journal has learned. The move, while largely symbolic, is an effort by the interim government to boost international legitimacy for the Nov. 29 vote, which the government hopes will put an end to a political crisis that began with the June 28 ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. In a speech to be delivered Thursday, Mr. Micheletti is expected to say he will hand the reins of government to his council of ministers – basically, the cabinet...

Zelayistas and journalists are deserting the sinking ship of the Brazilian Embassy. Yesterday, Salvadoran Padre Andrés Tamayo left. Deserters are escorted away by police and, I believe, are examined by doctors prior to release, which seems a wise move so that false accusations of ill effects from death rays, toxic gases, mind control radiation and whatever else they dream up cannot be claimed later. In one photo of a Zelaya follower telling a doctor about his symptoms, a Brazilian blogger notes with humor the skepticism in the face of a journalist (in the blue shirt) standing by watching. The fact...

Honduran lawmakers will not decide whether to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya until after upcoming presidential elections, the congressional leader said Tuesday, a decision that could undermine international support for the vote. Congress will meet Dec. 2 — three days after the Nov. 29 election — to decide whether Zelaya should be returned the presidency to finish his constitutional term, which ends in January, congressional president Jose Alfredo Saavedra told local HRN radio station. Several Latin American countries have warned they will not recognize the outcome of the election unless Zelaya is restored beforehand. But the United States has not...

Ex-president Zelaya is still holed up in the Brazilian Embassy and surrounded by police armed with an arrest warrant against him if he steps outside of Brazil’s protection. However, he makes frequent statements to the press via phone. Yesterday, his complaints against the U.S. took a more personal tone. In an interview with local station Radio Globo he said that Lincoln “. . . gave an example to the American people that this [Obama’s] government doesn’t want to follow. These are not true heirs of Lincoln.” Although State Department spokesman Ian Kelly denied yesterday that U.S. policy towards Honduras had...

Honduras — Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya insisted late Saturday that he will not accept any deal to restore him to office if it means he must recognize elections later this month. In a letter addressed to President Barack Obama, Zelaya also repeated his accusation that Washington reversed its stance on whether the Nov. 29 vote should be considered legitimate if he was not in office. "As the elected president of the Honduran people, I reaffirm my position that starting today, no matter what, I will not accept any agreement on returning to the presidency of the republic to cover...

The interim leadership in Honduras has vowed to use all security measures at its disposal to ensure a safe election this month. Leader Roberto Micheletti, installed after President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a June coup, has said he expects November 29 elections to bring an end to the worst political upheaval in Central America in decades. He vowed to bring the full weight of security forces to bear on the abridged campaign season and the election itself. 'People should know that we are here to provide security,' said armed forces chief General Romeo Vasquez on Saturday. 'We have put...

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya insisted late Saturday that he will not accept any deal to restore him to office if it means he must recognize elections later this month. In a letter addressed to President Barack Obama, Zelaya also repeated his accusation that Washington reversed its stance on whether the Nov. 29 vote should be considered legitimate if he was not in office. "As the elected president of the Honduran people, I reaffirm my position that starting today, no matter what, I will not accept any agreement on returning to the presidency of the republic to cover up this...

Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican known for his efforts to block influence domestic immigration and health-care issues, has scored a foreign-policy coup by helping to compel the Obama administration to shift its stance on strife-ridden Honduras. After demanding for months that deposed Honduran President Mel Zelaya be restored to power, senior State Department officials now say they'll accept the outcome of Nov. 29 elections in the Central American country even if Zelaya doesn't reclaim his post. "We support the elections process there," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday. "We have provided technical assistance. ... These elections will...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Assailants fired an anti-tank grenade toward the building housing ballots for the upcoming Honduran presidential elections, which are taking place under the shadow of a four-month crisis caused by a coup, police said Friday. The grenade overshot the target, exploding 550 yards (500 meters) from the building in the capital of Tegucigalpa, police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said. Residents in several neighborhoods heard the explosion Thursday night, but there were no damages. Police believe the building housing election material was the intended target because the surrounding buildings are mostly residential. They said the Russian-made, rocket-propelled grenade was likely...

...Ousted president Manuel Zelaya, who was expelled by the military in June, said in a telephone interview that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had assured him as recently as last week that the U.S. government was seeking his return to the presidency. But he said that U.S. pressure had eased in recent days and that he no longer had faith in the agreement....The Obama administration has invested its credibility in the Oct. 30 accord, which was reached after Clinton dispatched a senior diplomatic team to bring the two sides together. ... "The State Department's abrupt change of policy towards...

WASHINGTON — Under fire from allies in Latin America and on Capitol Hill, the Obama administration moved Tuesday to try to salvage the American-brokered agreement that had been billed as paving the way for a peaceful end to the coup in Honduras. Instead, the accord seems to have provided the country’s de facto government with a way to stay in power until a presidential election scheduled for the end of this month. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Craig Kelly (traveled) to Honduras on Tuesday for meetings with Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted from power four months ago, and with the...

The U.S. drops its support for Honduran former president Manuel Zelaya. Hugo Chávez says nothing, a development in itself. The October 30 Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord (translated here), under which the United States and other nations are to recognize the results of the November 29 Honduran elections, was hailed by the U.S. government and by the Organization of American States (OAS) as “as bringing an end to a months-long political crisis.” It seems to have fizzled because former President Manuel Zelaya insisted that he be reinstated before the unity government took office. Under the accord, the unity government took office, as...

The U.S. drops its support for Honduran former president Manuel Zelaya. Hugo Chávez says nothing, a development in itself.The October 30 Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord (translated here), under which the United States and other nations are to recognize the results of the November 29 Honduran elections, was hailed by the U.S. government and by the Organization of American States (OAS) as “as bringing an end to a months-long political crisis.” It seems to have fizzled because former President Manuel Zelaya insisted that he be reinstated before the unity government took office. Under the accord, the unity government took office, as scheduled,...

For months Honduras has faced a political crisis. In June, its president, Manuel Zelaya, attempted to subvert the country's constitution and was removed from office. He has since pushed to return to power...On Oct. 30, it appeared the crisis might come to a close when representatives of Zelaya signed an agreement with representatives of Micheletti to create a reconciliation government to oversee the country until the next president is seated (among other provisions). But in recent days, that agreement...fell apart. It's more accurate to say Zelaya moved to destroy the accord. It called for him to propose members of the...

It's not clear who will be running Honduras from now on, but the clear loser in the nation's protracted political crisis is Brazil. Ever since the June ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, Brazil has been working to restore him to power. Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva denounced the "coup makers" at the U.N. in September, just before Zelaya sneaked back into Honduras and took refuge at the Brazilian Embassy. But by allowing Zelaya to use his diplomatic shield to broadcast radio messages from the embassy, Brazil ended up looking like a biased broker--which only worsened tensions by...

Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying Honduras' top prosecutor, but neither he nor his bodyguards were harmed, police said Sunday. Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi was riding on a northern highway when assailants opened fire Saturday night. Cerrato said no one was hurt. One car was damaged. He did not give a motive for the attack or say whether it was related to Honduras' four-month political crisis. But he speculated the attack could be an attempt to "provoke unease in the country." After the June coup, it was Rubi who filed criminal charges against ousted President...

Just barely meeting the November 5 deadline, Honduran President Roberto Micheletti reported to the country in a national broadcast that the cabinet of unity and reconciliation had been formed, despite the fact that Manuel Zelaya refused to provide any nominations for the new cabinet. Surrounded by dozens of smiling members of political parties and civic groups, Micheletti appeared pleased and concluded his speech with 'Viva Honduras!' three minutes before midnight. During his speech, Micheletti explained that at the beginning of the week, nominations were requested from the principal political parties, the presidential candidates, sectors of the civil society, and Manuel...

Honduras, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he has pulled out of a deal struck to end the country's political crisis. Speaking to local radio Friday, Zelaya said the deal with the interim government led by President Roberto Micheletti was off as far as he was concerned, The Wall Street Journal reported. "This deal is dead. The other side has failed to uphold their end," Zelaya reportedly said. Under the terms of the deal, a government of national unity would be created and the Honduran Congress would be allowed to determine if Zelaya could return to...

It is not often that decency and perseverance overcome the ministrations of unctuous leftist frauds and their masters at the UN,OAS and US State Department. All the world was allied against those in Honduras attempting to maintain a fragile republic and adhere to its Constitution. (Americans would do well to take note as we may soon have to defend our own Constitution from the same bunch.) Nevertheless, the news from Honduras is good. Briefly, on June 28th of this year Manuel Zelaya was deposed by the order of the Supreme Court of Honduras. Among other things, he specifically violated the...

When the U.S. last week finally brokered a deal between ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the man who replaced him following the June 28 coup, de facto President Roberto Micheletti, observers wondered how the Obama Administration had won Micheletti's agreement. That's because the pact allowed for Zelaya to be restored to office before Honduras' Nov. 29 presidential election - a prospect Micheletti had fiercely opposed. But as the dust settles, the more common question this week is, What was Zelaya thinking when he signed this accord? The Oct. 30 agreement, in fact, leaves it to the Honduran congress to...

TEGUCIGALPA — They can't both be right. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says a deal that could have returned him to power is defunct. Roberto Micheletti...says the same deal has been successfully accomplished. The Obama Administration, caught in the middle... was urgently pressing Friday for the survival of an accord it hailed as "a historic victory for democracy." "No, it's not dead, but maybe sleeping," said State Department press spokesman Fred Lash. "Both sides need to return to the table..." On Friday, with the U.S.-brokered pact's future in doubt, Lash said the question of whether the U.S. will recognize upcoming...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Friday that a U.S.-brokered pact failed to end a four-month political crisis after a deadline for forming a unity government passed. "The accord is dead," Zelaya told Radio Globo from from the Brazilian Embassy where he has been hold up under threat of arrest. "There is no sense in deceiving Hondurans." Forged last week with the help of U.S. diplomats, the pact gave the two sides until midnight Thursday to install a government with supporters of Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, who was named interim president by Congress after Zelaya was ousted...

TEGUCIGALPA — Efforts to create a unity government aimed at ending Honduras' four-month political standoff appeared to be dragging past Thursday's deadline, with the overthrown president warning that failing to act was a risky endeavor. "Today is a momentous day," ousted President Manuel Zelaya told Radio Globo from the Brazilian Embassy, where he is holed up under threat of arrest. "Congress has a great role in solving this conflict. If it is not in session to reverse the coup and achieve peace and national reconciliation, the agreement will no longer be fulfilled." An accord forged last week with the help...

Bomb explodes in downtown Tegucigalpa Municipal police arrived on the scene to investigate what happened 05.11.09 - Updated: 05.11.09 01:42 pm - Agustin Lagos: agustin.lagos @ elheraldo.hn Current Rating: Votes: 0 1 comments Print Send Tegucigalpa, Honduras . A homemade bomb exploded this morning in public restrooms in Central Park in the Honduran capital. The blast was felt several feet around, but no injuries were reported. "He was just explosive, was more than anything to affect people psychologically," said an unidentified official on Radio America. "If I had more explosives and had been people inside (the bathrooms), the consequences would...

Local radio station Radio America and Channel 10 of Honduras report a terrorist attack onto radio station HRN. The attack was perpetrated by several men using fragmentation granades, but one granade bounced back to the attacker and exploded on his body, said moments ago a correspondent of the same radio.

TEGUCIGALPA — Ousted President Manuel Zelaya is asking the Obama Administration to explain why, after pressing for his reinstatement, U.S. officials say they will recognize upcoming Honduran elections even if he isn't returned to power first. In a letter sent to the U.S. State Department on Wednesday, Zelaya asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "to clarify to the Honduran people if the position condemning the coup d'etat has been changed or modified." His request came after Washington's top envoy to Latin America, Thomas Shannon, told CNN en Espanol that the U.S. will recognize the Nov. 29 elections even if the...

SNIPPET: "Lula and Chavez have established a "strategic relationship," and recently agreed upon a joint Brazilian-Venezuelan oil venture worth billions of dollars. Lula and Chavez have joined with Daniel Ortega, the returned Nicaraguan Marxist dictator, to form an anti-U.S. Latin American military alliance - all with Russian assistance - funded by the region's abundant oil reserves. Brazil is engaged in its own arms build-up and Lula is determined that Brazil will become at least a first-rate regional power. Unfortunately, Lula is establishing Brazil as an anti-American military power by aligning with nations hostile or potentially hostile to the U.S. Lula...

Undermine our allies. Embolden our enemies. Diminish our country. If anyone doubted those nine words summed up the Obama Doctrine, look at what the president's team perpetrated last week in Honduras. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon and Dan Restrepo, the National Security Council's senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs, visited the Honduran capital in Tegucigalpa on Wednesday to compel the country's recalcitrant democrats to make a deal with the man the latter had lawfully removed from the presidency on June 28. It remains to be seen whether, pursuant to this deal, former President Manuel Zelaya will be restored to...

Zelaya threatened to kick the board if not immediately restored Micheletti's supporters are in no hurry to convene Congress to rule on the restitution of the deposed president 9 votes 147 reviews Decrease font fuenteAumentar Will print email JOAQUIM IBARZ | MEXICO (CORRESPONDENT) | 01/11/2009 | Updated at 19:15 pm | International We are where we were. As feared the most skeptical, the agreement just last Friday, is far from solving the crisis in Honduras. Whatever their commitments, each of the parties interpreted the agreement at its convenience. The de facto government supporters are in no hurry to convene Congress...

Honduras signs a deal that means international recognition of the November 29 elections. If there is one person in Honduras who is more despised these days than deposed president Manuel Zelaya it is a foreigner who goes by the name of Hugo. We refer here not to the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez but to U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.

The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees—Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif) and Senator John Kerry (D-Mass), respectively—are demanding the librarians at the Law Library of Congress to suppress a report on the Honduran crisis. The problem with the report is that it concludes that the removal of former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was carried out in accordance with that country’s constitution. “This report directly contradicts the President’s position on this crisis,” Berman pointed out. “It creates an air of confusion regarding US policy on this matter. On matters of foreign policy, this nation must speak with one voice...

Lawmakers will wait until Tuesday to consider a U.S.-brokered agreement that could return deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power, despite diplomats' pleas to not delay an end to the country's 4-month-old political crisis. Monday is a holiday in Honduras, and many legislators are busy campaigning for Nov. 29 elections that will also elect a successor to Zelaya. Nonetheless, Zelaya said Saturday that he hopes he will be back in office by Thursday, the deadline for the two sides to establish a power-sharing government. "By Thursday, the government of national unity should be installed," he said in a meeting broadcast by...

The big news in Honduras is that the good guys seem to have won a four-month political standoff over the exile of former President Manuel Zelaya. Current President Roberto Micheletti agreed yesterday to submit Mr. Zelaya's request for reinstatement as president to the Supreme Court and Congress, and in return the U.S. will withdraw its sanctions and recognize next month's presidential elections. Mr. Zelaya, whose term would have expired in January, isn't likely to be reinstated, given that the court has twice ruled against his right to remain in office. The Honduran Congress, which voted in June to remove Mr....

A deal to end the political standoff in Honduras has been thrown into doubt after a negotiator for the de facto government suggested that Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president, will not be returned to power. The comments by Arturo Corrales prompted confusion on Saturday as it had been thought Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, Honduras's de facto leader, had reached a deal. The two sides have been at odds for four months over whether Zelaya should be reinstated before presidential elections due to be held in November. It was thought that, through the deal, Zelaya could be returned to power before...

Diplomacy: The restoration of a president with dictatorial dreams in Honduras is being touted by the administration as a triumph of "dialogue." In truth, it's just old-fashioned yanqui interventionism. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed Thursday night's agreement in Tegucigalpa as "a restoration of the constitutional order," and praised it highly. "I cannot think of another example of a country in Latin America that, having suffered a rupture of its democratic and constitutional order, overcame such a crisis through negotiation and dialogue." What worked here, though, wasn't dialogue, but U.S. diplomatic muscle. A last-minute mission from Assistant Secretary of State...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Deposed President Manuel Zelaya and his opponents have agreed to a U.S.-brokered deal that he said will return him to power four months after a coup shook faith in Latin America's young democracies. The power-sharing agreement reached late Thursday calls for Congress to decide whether to reinstate the leftist Zelaya. While the legislature backed his June 28 ouster, congressional leaders have since said they won't stand in the way of an agreement that ends Honduras' diplomatic isolation and legitimizes presidential elections planned for Nov. 29. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said Friday that the two...

The de facto Honduran government has agreed to a deal that may allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to power ahead of elections next month. U.S. diplomats have been in the country to mediate an end to the four-month-old crisis. De facto President Roberto Micheletti unveiled the plan late Thursday, nearly four months after he took over for ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Since then, Mr. Micheletti has rejected calls from Mr. Zelaya and many foreign governments to restore the ousted leader to power, saying the Supreme Court had stripped Mr. Zelaya of power for violating the Honduran constitution. Now...

Honduras' interim government has buckled under international pressure and agreed to allow the return to power of Manuel Zelaya, the ousted President who was toppled in a military coup four months ago. The breakthrough followed renewed pressure from senior US. officials who traveled to Honduras this week for a last-ditch effort to end the crisis. "It is a triumph for Honduran democracy," said Mr Zelaya after the rival sides agreed to a deal that could see him reinstated as President in the coming days. Earlier, Roberto Micheletti, the president of the interim government that took power after the coup on...

Concludes political crisis in Honduras The signing was delayed for several hours after the delegation of the deposed Manuel Zelaya gave its approval long - Updated: 30.10.09 12:50 am - Writing: Current Rating: 4 votes: 3 3 Comments Print Send Tegucigalpa, Honduras . Representatives of the government of deposed Roberto Micheletti Manuel Zelaya signed late Thursday in this capital an agreement to end the political crisis that took to Honduras in the air for 124 days. The agreement was signed under heavy pressure from the U.S. government decided to send his top heavy artillery led by the undersecretary of state...

A month ago, the Law Library of Congress reviewed the removal of Manuel Zelaya from his post as President of Honduras, an act that the Obama administration called a “coup” and demanded reversed for its illegality. To the embarrassment of the White House and State Department, the Congressional body determined that Honduras acted lawfully in removing Zelaya for his crimes against their constitution, although they determined that his exile broke Honduran law. Now John Kerry wants the Law Library to retract its findings, apparently trying to rewrite history to hide the facts of the case:

The interim leader of Honduras says he is ready to sign a deal to resolve its crisis which could include the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Roberto Micheletti said the agreement would create a power-sharing government and require both sides to recognise the result of November's presidential poll. Mr Zelaya has not yet commented on the deal, which would require the approval of Congress and the Supreme Court.

The big guns US State Department representative Thomas Shannon and his team met with US Ambassador Hugo Llorens, Zelaya, Micheletti, and others yesterday. The State Department representatives gave no statements to the media yesterday. Right now I'm seeing the video of Llorens, Shannon, Rico, both Guaymuras teams sitting around the dialogue table. Two Zelaya representatives indicated in harsh statements yesterday that they would not meet to "dialogue" again unless Zelaya's reinstatement was previously agreed to. Why, oh, why does the State Department keep saying that Micheletti is the stubborn one? Micheletti's team has offered ten proposals. Zelaya has only demanded...

The Obama Administration has made serious mistakes in its handling of the crisis in Honduras where it supports the return of the deposed president, Mel Zelaya. The Administration categorized the removal of Zelaya as a coup when, in fact, the Honduran military has had no role in governing the country.  The Honduran Congress and Supreme Court abided by their Constitution and rule of law and ousted Zelaya because he had violated the law. As a result, the crisis in Honduras today is almost unmanageable. So what does this behavior reveal about Mr. Obama's respect for the separation of powers, as...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Honduras' opposing political factions resumed talks Thursday and expressed hope that a deal could be reached soon to end the power crisis that has paralyzed the country since a coup four months ago. The two sides returned to the negotiating table a day after visiting U.S. diplomats urged both factions to be more flexible and find a solution before previously scheduled presidential elections looming in November. The international community has threatened to not recognize the vote if deposed President Manuel Zelaya is not reinstated. Rodil Rivera, a Zelaya representative, said Thursday an agreement could be signed calling...

Plan from the radical left wing is foiled in Honduras The plan was not linked with the death of a colonel of the Armed Forces and the nephew of President Micheletti and the kidnapping of the Minister of Defense, but not rule out that these have to do with the political crisis Tegucigalpa, Honduras . The National Police reported an alleged plan from "radical" left to kill and kidnap businessmen, policemen and armed forces members. This was announced by the National Police Commissioner, Danilo Orellana, who told HRN radio that seized and are holding a plan "that they had and...

According to a Gallup poll released yesterday, a large majority of Hondurans see the presidential elections scheduled for November 29th as the way to resolve the impasse over the restitution of Manuel Zelaya to the post. According to an Associated Press report, the poll found that 72% of Hondurans see the upcoming elections as the way out of the crisis, prompted when the country’s Supreme Court and National Congress removed Zelaya from the presidency over his violations of the nation’s constitution. According to Gallup, neither Zelaya, nor his congressionally appointed interim successor Roberto Micheletti are seen by a majority of...

Senior congressional Democrats want a report on the ouster of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to be retracted. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) made the demand in a letter dated Tuesday to James Billington, the Librarian of Congress. They asked the Law Library of Congress to withdraw and correct the August 2009 report titled “Honduras: Constitutional Issues.” “The report, which has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks Honduras, contains factual errors and is based on a flawed legal analysis that has been refuted by experts from the United States, the Organization of American States, and...

President 'de facto' of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, said that there will be no settlement to the political crisis in the country before the elections on 29 November this year, and reiterated that it refunded to the deposed president, Manuel Zelaya. "We will not fix anything, no dialogue or anything, if not after the election," Micheletti said in a press conference at the presidential palace. -- Note- Article is in Spanish and the machine translation leave a little to be desired.

“Two people showed up saying they are responsible for making the consular changes demanded by Mrs. Patricia Rhodes, that of Marta Zuniga and Fernando Espinosa,” said David Hernandez, minister counselor of the consulate of Honduras in Washington. “They came in and locksmiths changed the locks without saying why.” The consulate is now run by people appointed by former Chancellor Rhodes, Hernandez said. Mario Fortin explained that Mrs. Marta Zuniga was named to the consular office by the former president Manuel Zelaya. The actions of former Foreign Minister Patricia Rhodes affects thousands of Hondurans living in the U.S., who now cannot...

Honduras's military-backed interim government has made a new offer towards resolving its standoff with Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president, just hours after Zelaya's aides said negotiations had failed. Vilma Morales, a representative of Robert Micheletti, the interim president, said that the de facto government was willing to allow Zelaya to appeal directly to the legislature to decide whether he should be reinstated. "Congress could decide [on Zelaya’s reinstatement to the presidency] based on a request that he should formally present to the legislative branch," Morales said on Friday. Micheletti had previously insisted that the Honduran supreme court be the final...